Great Masters

Weyden, whose father was Roger de la Pasture, was born in Tournai and studied with Robert Campin whose works are among the best produced by Flemish artists of the 15th Century.

Roger entered the studio the Campin as an apprentice in March 1427 and became a master in Tournai on August 1st 1432. He had already settled in Brussels in 1425 where he was already known as a good artist.

It was not uncommon for many painters of that time to start a career and then work as the apprentices of great masters.

Roger van der Weyden painted religious works almost exclusively as well as some portraits. The most remarkable painting he executed was a Descent from the Cross for the altar of the Archers Brotherhood in Louvain now in the Escurial, Spain. This painting, expressing deep pain and dignity, was much realistic and established Weyden as a great master.

He was asked in 1443 to decorate in Beaune, Burgundy, the famous chapel of the Hotel Dieu hospice. He painted there the Last Judgement, an admirable Gothic work almost as much striking as The Adoration of the Lamb by Van Eyck.

Many works by van der Weyden are now in the museum of Antwerp such as the triptych of the Seven Sacraments where mystical and daily existences are mixed in a harmonious way. The museum of Berlin possesses an altar piece representing St John and a ravishing portrait of a young woman.

Works painted during the last decades of his life are in the Munich museum such as The Adoration of the Magi while two superb portraits are in the Paul Mellon collection and the Metropolitan Museum in New York, notably that of Meliaduse of Este, whom van der Weyden probably met at the court of Ferrara. The work in which van der Weyden found his supreme blossoming was this poignant Pieta now in the museum of Brussels.

Van der Weyden, who knew so well how to instil much sensuality in his works, managed to transmit his emotional art to two of his main pupils, Thierry Bouts and Hans Memling with whom the school of Bruges managed to shine for another few decades.